By Maryam Manzoori | 2024-10-18

TEHRAN -- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) commander Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani attended the funeral of slain IRGC Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan at Mehrabad Airport on October 15, after disappearing from public view for two weeks.

Nilforoushan was killed with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah September 27 in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon.

In the early hours of October 15, Iranian television briefly showed Qaani's face during a live broadcast following days of speculation on his fate.

His absence from Friday prayers led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on October 4 had fueled rumors.

Khamenei's rare Friday sermon -- his first in almost five years -- came just days before the anniversary of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, and shortly after the deaths of Nilforoushan and Nasrallah, one of Khamenei's closest allies.

On October 1, days after the Israeli air raid killed the two men, Qaani visited the office of Hizbullah's representative in Tehran.

From then until the funeral, Qaani made no public appearances.

During that interim, some reports suggested Qaani may have been killed October 3 in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon that targeted Nasrallah's successor, Hashem Safieddine. Safieddine is still missing.

Under scrutiny

Others, like Middle East Eye in an October 10 article, claimed Iranian authorities were questioning him for suspected espionage.

Middle East Eye, which cited multiple regional sources, is close to the Qatari government.

The rumors continued even after Hizbullah-affiliated Al Mayadeen reported October 11 that Khamenei planned to give Qaani an award.

Some YouTube channels claimed that Qaani was an Israeli spy, and several X users posted that he was assisting Israelis while in IRGC uniform.

Middle East Eye quoted a commander of an Iranian-backed armed faction, noting that the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July aroused suspicion that Iranian security forces had been compromised.

Haniyeh was killed in an explosion at an IRGC guesthouse.

Iran's investigation of Nasrallah's death also focused on the final movements of Nilforoushan, who died with him.

"The breach [of security] was 100 percent Iranian, and there is no question about this part," a source close to Hizbullah told Middle East Eye.

A week after Nasrallah and Nilforoushan were killed, Qaani declined to attend a Hizbullah Shura Council meeting with Safieddine, shortly before Israeli forces targeted it, Middle East Eye reported.